Tag Archives: 30 Rock

!!!!!IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER AND/OR HAVE NOT SEEN THE SEASON 8 FINALE… DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS!!!!!

NO REALLY. STOP READING.

This Is Your Last Warning.

Just kidding, this is your last warning.

Are you sure?

There is no turning back now…

WE FINALLY SEE THE MOTHER!!!!!

Over 8 years ago we all sat down and tuned in to CBS for their new sitcom about a guy telling his kid’s the story of how he met their mother. In those eight seasons we’ve shared in Ted’s heartbreak as he sought out love with one wrong woman after another and each time we’ve always thought, “could this be it? Could this be the woman Ted has been looking for? His soulmate?” Every single time we’ve gotten out hopes up and each time they’ve been dashed. Well if finally appears as if our waiting has paid off because this woman is a bassist, has a yellow umbrella, and is headed to Farhampton.

For weeks now there’s been talk of finally meeting The Mother but after so long it was hard to believe that they were actually going to make that move. Because of that I watched the entire episode on the edge of my seat just waiting for them to cut to the credits and leave us hanging. Thankfully this fabulously lovely young lady stepped to the ticket window instead. It’s going to be a very long summer.

But who is this mystery woman, in real life that is? Well she might look familiar to many as she was most recently on Broadway in the musical production of Once.

However, if you are like me and it’s been way too long since you saw a show on the Great White Way, you might recognize this young lady from 30 Rock as the incredibly obnoxious ‘Sexy Baby’.

Her name is Cristin Milioti (I do love how HIMYM is not even listed on her IMDb page yet) and in my own humble opinion, she’s perfect. However, I think it would be wise for us all to take this with a grain of salt. How many times have we been certain that the evil writers had given away who the mother was only to have the rug yanked out from underneath us? So until next fall comes around the the final season of How I Met Your Mother gets underway with Robin and Barney’s wedding, it’s probably best to just assume it isn’t her. As many people of the internet have already pointed out, the credits just have her listed as ‘the girl with the yellow umbrella’ so there’s nothing stopping her from handing off the umbrella as she gets on the train or something.

Oh who am I kidding? It’s the mother!! We’ve finally met the mother!!

Now to settle down and dream of what an entire season of Ted dating the mother would be like. Could the series finale be a Ted Mosby wedding? Will the goat be there? So many questions, so many months before we get answers.

As 30 Rock wraps up its 7 year run, it is very easy to mourn its loss. Instead, like any other good funeral, we should be celebrating the life of one of TV’s most recent great sitcoms. It is a show that has worked its way into many fan’s everyday lexicon and is full of one-liners that should stand the test of time.

It may not have been a ratings darling, but the fans of 30 Rock are a fiercely loyal group. For seven years we’ve followed the friendship of Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy. We’ve watched in wonder as Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney somehow found a way to top themselves. We’ve questioned what the hell was wrong with Kenneth. From the first season we’ve wondered if Liz Lemon was ever going to be able to save herself from herself and find the happiness she so desperately sought.

Like Liz Lemon, you will most often find us eating cheese at night and requesting that someone bring us some ham.

Night cheese and ham. That right there is the secret to 30 Rock’s greatness. Why? Because it is unassuming, it’s ridiculous, and most of all, it’s smart. A show that you have to really watch to catch all the fast dialogue, and pay attention to get all the jokes. It’s a refreshing change.

Sadly, we live in the age of predominantly stupid television. There are obviously bright spots, but those are most often found in the drama category. Sitcoms are seen as a 30 minute package for the same old jokes week in and week out. You don’t really need to have a vested interest in a sitcom anymore. You can watch one episode every few weeks and not feel like you’ve missed anything because every episode they will tell you exactly why each joke is funny. Every week of Big Bang Theory sets up the guys as nerds, and every single joke stems from that simple concept. 30 Rock’s jokes were often like a long con. You look back and realize that they’ve been setting it up for seven years only to have the final payoff in the last scene of the show. There were always allusions to the idea of Kenneth living forever, but at the time it just seemed like weird Kenneth being weird Kenneth. Turns out, he does live forever!

This is what set 30 Rock apart. It rewarded viewers for watching. It’s like we were let in on the inside jokes. Yes, there were obvious recurring themes like Liz’s love of bad food, and Jenna’s obsession with herself, but those were not the focus of the entire show. In the finale, there were plenty of throwbacks to old jokes and while watching it I felt like I was just playing a game of “hey, remember when?” with an old friend.

In every game of “hey remember when?”, there’s that moment where you get a little catch in your throat and realize that even though there are jokes and humor, at the same time there’s been a tenderness. Even though 30 Rock never played up the drama side there was still a humanness to it that caused you to nod your head and realize, “yeah, I know exactly what that feels like.” That is what sets a great sitcom apart from a run of the mill sitcom.

Perhaps my favorite episode of a sitcom ever is “Where You Been, Fassbinder?” in season one of The Dick Van Dyke Show. It’s Sally’s birthday and through one funny misstep after another, she finds herself alone. Even her cat has ditched her! Of course it all works out and ends up being quite humorous in the process. I first watched that episode probably more than twenty years ago. It still makes me laugh and cry to this day. Twenty years from now I’ll probably think of Liz Lemon standing in the airport waiting for her newly adopted twins and have that same feeling. There aren’t that many shows that have that kind of impact, I can assure you people won’t remember much of Two and a Half Men beyond the basic premise decades from now.

While I don’t think it was Tina Fey’s responsibility by any means, it’s undeniable that she has changed the face of women in comedic television. Everyone knows about Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore, and countless other funny women through history. Problem is, even though many of those women were also fantastic business and creative minds, they were mainly known for their performances on screen. Tina Fey turned the tide on that thinking. There are just as many people who see her as a funny writer, not just that funny chick who was Sarah Palin on SNL. Whether it was her intention or not, she has paved the way for an entire new generation of women created television.

So is 30 Rock a candidate for our Gone Too Soon category? No. It was time. The fact it had seven years really is amazing. The ratings were never very good, and they were dwindling as the years went on. However, for me and the ten other people who tuned in each Thursday, it will be missed.

It’s almost Halloween, so what better time to start promoting the “updated” Carrie? This, the latest Hollywood remake (which isn’t actually scheduled for release until March of 2013) of the classic Stephen King novel adaptation stars Chloe Grace Moretz in the title role, and also features Julianne Moore as the over-bearing, crazy religious mother of Carrie White.

Chloe, who is only fifteen, already has a list of disturbing characters on her resume: Hit-Girl from Kick Ass, the vampire in Let Me In and the oversexualized werewolf child in Dark Shadows, so I guess playing the telekenetically charged, disturbed teen that is Carrie is just a natural progression for her. Personally, I would like to see Moretz get more roles like the one she had in Hugo as opposed to being typecast as “the creepy girl”, but she has proved to be a talented actress so hopefully her turn in Carrie will be just another stepping stone.

This movie still seems to be in the early stages of post-production/promotions as demonstrated by the lack of substance from their first trailer and website. The trailer is impressive in it’s scope of capturing what is essentially the pivotal scene of the first movie but you’ve got to wonder where else they are going to go with the story. One of the weaknesses of doing a remake is that you aren’t surprising anybody with the main plot points so it will be interesting to see how the films fairly inexperienced director and screenwriter keep things fresh. It’s encouraging to see Julianne Moore attached to the project as she is definitely a talented actress but no one survives forever without making bad movie choices eventually. Screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa apparently got the job based on his work on Glee so maybe we can expect a song and dance number or two and the slushie in the face has clearly moved to the next level.

No really, I think it did. Well for me it did, quite literally. I had no internet at my home last night for many hours (I liketa died) and for some reason the email I use for work and entertainment news was not loading anywhere, even on my phone. When it finally came back, the first thing that popped up was this:

NBC really loves to do the short seasons so much that perhaps the only saving grace to everyone’s critical and cult hero yet ratings challenged darlings on Thursday nights might be the route they choose.

According to Deadline via WarmingGlow, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Community are in the running to get shorter seasons with 30 Rock leading the way with 13-14 episodes for the smaller and most likely final season. Alec Baldwin has been very vocal about this being his final season and some of the episodes have gotten stale in the last few years in my opinion. However, just like with Chuck, they appear ready to send the show off the right way instead of letting it fade out into the night with no resolution like Alf (seriously, most random end to a series because Alf is basically screwed at the end, go watch it).

Also on the short season path could be P-Rex (what the cool kids call it) and Community. However, the shorter 13 episode season seems to be more likely for P-Rex [Ed. Note – No one calls it that] as opposed to Community. They are saying the chances for Community still run at 50-50 so we shall wait until the NBC Upfronts happen and the mass panic about people’s favorite show that no one watches reaches the boiling point. All I have to say is that if they bring back P-Rex, that’s cool but it’s time to shut The Office down. Used to love the show, now it’s just buried in my DVR for the last 8 episodes. I cannot defend that show anymore. Steve Carrell, we miss you.

I can’t let the post end on a bad note though, Whitney is probably going to be put out of its misery. Rejoice in that I guess.